Wall-to-wall coverage of the Budget dominates the daily papers, unpacking the tax and spend measures announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Commons. “High welfare, high tax” is the Times’s take, saying Reeves will “raise taxes to the highest levels in history”. The paper explains “one in four taxpayers, equivalent to 10.6m people, will be higher or additional-rate taxpayers by 2030”. It includes the Office For Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s forecast, which says “the rises would hit living standards and could ‘constrain economic activity'”.
“Budget goes as billed” is the Metro’s take. “You’re paying!”, it adds, writing the chancellor “will make working people pay £26bn more tax – a year after vowing no rises”. The paper recounts a “clanger by the Office for Budget Responsibility which posted its verdict on [the chancellor’s] plan 40 minutes too early”. It caused a “brief stock market roller-coaster”, it reports, with the Conservatives demanding “a criminal investigation”.
The Financial Times focuses on reaction to the Budget, citing official forecasts and economist views, while underlining it “smashes tax records” in the headline. “The OBR said a weaker outlook and rising tax burden would squeeze household finances,” the paper says. Meanwhile, it writes the “bond markets welcome decision to increase Exchequer’s fiscal headroom”.
“Spend now, pay later” is the i Paper’s take, as the chancellor lays out plans to “boost benefits and tackle UK black hole”. The paper quotes Reeves saying “ordinary people” must “pay a little bit more” as “1.8m workers are dragged into a higher income tax band”.
“Millions more to pay higher income tax” is the Independent’s headline and key takeaway. The chancellor confirms “43 tax increases to raise a record extra £26bn”. It says Reeves “scrapped” the two-child benefit cap, adding £9bn to welfare spending.
The Daily Mail describes Reeves’s measures as “spiteful raids on strivers”, referring to what it calls a “Budget shambles” and saying the chancellor’s message is “if you work hard and save prudently, I’m coming for you”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s assessment leads the Daily Express: “A Budget for benefit street”. She believes the new measures will hit “hard-working Britons” hardest as the government looks to “increase welfare spending to £406bn by 2030-31” for measures such as scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
The Sun headlines on what it calls a “benefits street” Budget, saying: “Workers and savers were clobbered… to fund the ballooning welfare bill”. The Tories now accuse the chancellor of breaking “Labour’s manifesto promises”, it writes, and says Rachel Reeves has “refused to rule out further punishing hikes”.
Photoshop, or another image-altering programme, has assisted the Daily Star in portraying Reeves as the Christmas Grinch on its front page, a grumpy green-skin fictional character who “stole Christmas” in its eponymous film. The Star nicknames the chancellor “Rachel Thieves”, accusing her of delivering a Budget that is “all tax, tax, tax, and spend, spend, spend”.
“Budget with a Labour heart” is the Daily Mirror’s take, saying it was “crafted with ordinary people in mind”. The paper calls the two-child benefit cap “cruel”, saying the policy “trapped 450,000 kids in poverty”. It also writes that “Reeves hiked gambling taxes and placed a levy on homeowners with £2 million properties”.
The Daily Telegraph says Reeves’s fiscal statement contain “broken promises”, including a “new tax on homes worth more than £2m” and other measure it says will affect “pensions and savings”. Reeves gave “assurances” after the last Budget’s “£40bn of tax rises” there would be “no further increases before the next election”, according to the paper.
The Guardian leads by quoting the chancellor saying “I am asking everyone to make a contribution” and later explaining that this was “to repair the public finances”. Reeves says she “avoided reckless borrowing and dangerous cuts”, while the paper notes the tax share as a proportion of GDP will hit an “all-time high of 38%” by 2030.
